Sarah Brightman to Perform at Beijing Film Festival Closing Ceremony

BEIJING –Sarah Brightman has been confirmed as the star performer at the closing ceremony of this year’s Beijing International Film Festival. Her performance on April 23 at the China National Convention Center will mark the finale of the event, which is slated to begin on April 15.

According to the festival’s website, the cast of Iron Man 3 and The Man of Tai Chi – led by the already-announced Keanu Reeves – will walk the red carpet at the event, in addition to foreign industry heavyweights such as Kathleen Kennedy and Luc Besson, as well as Chinese stars Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi.

Both Kennedy and Besson will be in Beijing to attend the festival’s film market, which runs from Apr. 20 to 22.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the announcement of the inaugural Tiantan Award (or Temple of Heaven Award, as listed also on the festival website). Led by the Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, a seven-strong jury will pick the winner from 15 entries, including Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, Cate Shortland’s Lore, Mani Haghighi’s Modest Reception and Chinese director FengXiaogang’s Back to 1942.

The festival itself will host 264 films, screened in 28 cinemas across the city. Among the films to be shown are Michael Haneke’s Oscar winner Amour, Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Me and You as well as the restored version of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia. The eight installments of the Harry Potter franchise will also be screened across three days.